Stories and Pathways

What's up, Internet! Adi again, reporting back from the trenches of the Beit Shemesh Youth Center. The center was relatively quiet this Tuesday; half the kids who usually come were on a school trip, and a significant minority were at a town-wide cultural event called "the shuuk," which to me sounded more like a street fair than an open-air market. Hailu, the center's director, explained that students go to the shuuk both to hang out and to help their parents, many of whom man stalls or booths. There were two girls at the center this week, one of whom (let's call her "Devorah") solicited my help with her English homework. She didn't have any of her school things with her, but promised to bring a week's worth of homework next Tuesday; I'm excited for our study date. I think I will call Hailu on Monday and ask him to remind her--I actually miss English homework! I had a tiny mission to carry out on Tuesday, which totally failed. An extreme...

Hello, Internet! I’m Adi, a new ENP volunteer who will be blogging about my time in the Beit Shemesh youth center once weekly. I recently graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland—in fact, Baltimore is both my inspiration for volunteering with ENP, and my paradigm for what it means to work with an underserved community. Three and a half years living in Charles Village—located a hop, skip, and a jump away from urban neighborhoods that inspired the emotionally gripping and highly disturbing HBO cult hit, The Wire—impelled me to seek out a similar experience for my five months in Israel. I’ve been teaching English and Language Arts to Baltimore City Public School kids since my sophomore year, and firmly believe that English literacy is one of the most important tools for/indicators of future academic and professional success, in any country. Hence: armed with goodwill, some teaching experience, and…well, little else but jumpy nerves, I venture to the Bet Shemesh ...